Sen. Grace Poe is not convinced that resigned Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Alan Purisima told the whole truth when he appeared at the Senate on Monday, the start
of the chamber’s inquiry into the Mamasapano incident.

The senator, who heads the committee on public order and dangerous drugs, said Purisima’s testimony was “unbelievable.”

She noted that she found it hard to believe Purisima’s statement that he did not order suspended Special Action Force Director Getulio Napeñas not to inform PNP officer-in charge Leonardo Espina and Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas 2nd about the operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

“Hindi ba merong mga hindi dun kapani-paniwala, halimbawa, sa sabi nga nya it was just an advice, not a command [He was saying some things that were unbelievable, for example, that he was giving only advice, not command, on the operation],” the senator said.

Napeñas told senators that Purisima participated in pre-operation meetings on Oplan Exodus to capture suspected terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan even after the Office of the Ombudsman suspended him.

Purisima admitted as much on Monday when he said he participated in two pre-operation meetings held at the PNP “White House,” the official residence of the PNP chief, inside Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Pressed by Senate President Franklin Drilon about his involvement in Oplan Exodus, the former police chief claimed that he was there just to listen to the plan and did not talk or give instructions to the police officials in the meeting.

“So, in those meetings, which lasted 30 minutes each, you just shut your mouth?” Drilon asked Purisima, who replied that he may have raised his observations on the plan but gave no instructions.

Purisima earlier claimed that he was never involved in the Mamasapano operation to capture Marwan.

Napenas, however, belied Purisima’s claims at the Senate hearing, saying Purisima was the one who told the SAF director not to inform Roxas and Espina about the operation. He added that Purisima gave the instructions after their meeting with President Benigno Aquino 3rd in Malacañang, where he, together with Intelligence officer Chief Supt. Fernando Mendez, briefed the President about Oplan Exodus.

Napeñas admitted that he followed Purisima’s order despite knowing that the latter was not in the chain of command at the time on account of his suspension because it was Purisima who had the intelligence packet and “he was the one consulted by the President.”

Sen. Teofisto Guingona 3rd asked Purisima about his motivation in telling Napenas not to inform Roxas and Espina about the operation, but the former police chief insisted that he was just giving Napeñas advice, not order.

Purisima said he was just following what was written in the plan that coordination will be time-on-target, meaning they will inform other officials when the raiding team is already in the area.

But Poe said it is difficult to believe that Purisima was only giving advice to Napeñas because even if he was under suspension, the SAF commander still sees him as a man of authority.

“This is the reason why the committee has asked for copies of the exchanges of text messages between Purisima and Napeñas for us to determine when and what are his messages to the SAF commander,” the senator said.

“There are still a lot of things that we need to look into like the text messages between Purisima and Napeñas, how was the operation funded, and who ordered the operation,” she added

Oplan Exodus is the PNP’s third attempt to capture Marwan, after two failed missions, called “Oplan Terminator” 1 and 2, last November and December.

Napeñas said Oplan Terminator 1 was launched on November 29, 2014, but it was aborted because of equipment failure while the arresting team was en route to the target.

Oplan Terminator 2 was launched using tactical boats but it was also borted after the assault team met and engaged a lawless group in a firefight along the river in Barangay Tukalanipao, Mamasapano.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is convinced that the chain of command was violated when Napenas decided to heed Purisima’s advice to keep Roxas and Espina in the dark.

He said while Purisima claimed that it was just advice, not order, that he was giving the SAF director, the fact that the President allowed the suspended PNP chief to join the briefing in Malacañang means that he is included in the chain of command.

“What did Purisima and President Aquino talk about? If it’s about the mission, then it would mean that he was recognized by the President that he is still included in the chain of command,” Marcos pointed out.

It is clear that Purisima was in the loop and Espina is not, and this could send strong signs that the former PNP head was included in the chain of command during the Mamasapano operation, he said.

it was mentioned that purisima sent 2 text messages a few minutes past 5am on that faithful day to WestMinComm to send in reinforcement and extricate the beleaguered SAF troopers. this meant, he is directly involved in the operations.

THE GOOD SENATOR POE IS VERY IMPRESSIVE WITH HER PERFORMANCE SO FAR. WHATS LACKING ARE CLOSURES. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE DOTC INVESTIGATIONS WHERE ABAYA MADE A FOOL OF HIMSELF? NOW WE CAN ALL SEE PURISIMA MAKING A MONKEY OF HIMSELF. ANGIE REYES IS A LOT MORE HONORABLE.

Im really confused by all this. When purisma was suspended & espina took over from him shouldnt then purisma have given him all the information he had on the milf to espina. Shouldnt he straight away have told him there is this big operaion being planned & all this information is vital to you. Once all information is handed over to espina it should be espina who attends the meetings with pnoy not purisma. Plus purisma should only have been textting anyone involved in this operation in reply to their texts to them. So then when its in answer its not giving an order then its giving advice. But if he told them not to inform espina or advised them not to tell espina about the operation until it was underway he should be straight away locked up as he is interfeering in an operation of extreme importance & now being the top man espina has to be the first to be told anything. & if purisma wanted to give advice he could have given it to espina to show how helpful he is being. Instead he wanted espina out of the picture so if all went wee he would get the credit for it. But it all went deadly wrong & its almost entirely down to purisma. He holdes the responsibility for those 44 deaths.

You nailed it. He should be giving advice to the person who took over his duties (Gen. Espina). It looks like Gen. Purisima does not trust Espina enough to pass on the intel about Marwan. Or somebody above Purisima told him not to do so.

Here is the best proof that PeNoy is not fit to be a leader. He disregards official channels and relies on his personal friends even when it’s no longer legal. When Purisima was suspended, he lost his right to live in the White House which should been taken over by Espina. All official business should have been turned over to the acting PC chief and Purisima should have never participated in any official business even with Aquino. What happened is an affirmation that we are a nation of men, not of laws.

But this is the joke on Aquino: the Kabarilan, Kaibigan, Kamag-anakan syndrome is his style of governing that is the cause of his downfall. This all the retard’s fault, allowing Purisima to give advice (when nobody else was in position to give orders). Just imagine, with Purisima suspended, PeNoy bypassed two professionally- and constitutionally-instituted officials in the line of command and responsibility: Roxas and Espina. Now he thinks he douses the fire by asking Purisima to resign, who insists in the Senate that he is not part of the operation. What kind of a mind does PeNoy have? Down syndrome may be his affliction that is why he has bungled all the way from the time he assumed the Presidency. Quezon, please rise from your grave and take back your prophecy. We might just be dumped from the frying pan of PeNoy to the hell-fires of Satur. Heaven forbid. Give us a break!

You have to lie if you cannot tell the truth,Mr.13% VP Binay is expert on that but anyway who cares who give the order the SAF mission was successful they killed Marwan.Gen.Napenas will the best to become PNP chief,after P-NOY got kickout and put a Transition government to run the country until next election.

Let’s not forget that the stars of this inquiry are all PMAers, who have a strict ‘pecking order’; who are bound by a strict, (if dubious) ‘Honor Code’; and, who are all reliant on the motto “rank has its privilege,(RHIP). The ‘truth’, for these “Officers and Gentlemen”, is what they make of it…a mutated product of RHIP and the ‘pecking order’..a fairytale. (Oh, by the way, President Aquino does not belong to this stellar circle.) So, forget the ‘Honor Code’. In fact, forget honor. We the public can just tune out of this ‘zarzuela’. It wouldn’t make any difference to us at all..nor to them. This inquiry is a non-event.

Chain of command? for what? for the mission to be failed again? after the mission was successful if the AFP participated, then It didn’t have ended that way but the AFP didn’t participate because according to catapang it would violate the cease agreement with MILF, ganoon lang yan? hinayaan ng namatay un 44saf, at tumutulong pa un MILF sa pamaslang ng mga 44saf, ano ba nman na general na ito parang kaklase ata ni general igbal singha ng indian military academy hahaha o kaklase ba ni igbal ng MILF haha.

The President violated the chain of command in the fallen 44 SAF mission. How can we make him accountable for that now and give justice to those killed (not only the SAFs but also the MILFs/BIFFs and civilians) during the mission?

Purisima’s statement is LUDICROUS. He thinks the Senators and the people are stupids and idiots to buy is reasoning. This guy is a shame to the PNP and should be disowned. It is very evident that Napenas has agreed to be the fall guy.

Obviously, Purisima was in the oplan loop PNoy was leading. Otherwise, suspended Purisma should not have been in the Malacanang meeting on Jan. 9, 2015. Another proof that Purisma was very much involved in the oplan loop was the meeting held in Camp Crane “White House”.

The Advice by Purisima was an ORDER with the knowledge of and sanctioned by PNoy. Suspended Purisima unlawfully paricipated in the unsuccessful oplan that massacred 44 SAF officers with the UNLAWFUL blessing and command of PNoy.

You dishonored yourselves for not telling the truth! For trying to protect each other, you dug your own grave. If you think the public is dumb, you made a mistake. I think more and more people are discerning. If your parents are alive, they would be ashamed of what you have become. Is telling the truth so hard? General Purisima, Mr President, “Alright sirs?”

how can you say you were not involved in this operation when you told Gen. Napenas not to tell the the others and you will take care of Gen. Catapang? That statement of yours already implied you took action about what you told or did not tell Gen. Catapang. The fact that you said this meant that you were not observing. Advice, command, what difference does that mean when you told Gen. Napenas what to do: to disregard the present cahin of command which dos not include you becuse you are suspended. How can you blatantly lie? COURAGE INTEGRITY LOYALTY… does that mean anything to you or did you forget the Honor Code? And since you resigned, why don’t you apply for early retirement as well so the PNP can re focus?